Subject: [Tweeters] Where are the hummers?
Date: Apr 16 07:57:51 2012
From: Joe Dlugo - browncreeper99 at gmail.com


Hi Thomas,

Thanks for posting this. Last week I posted about anna's & rufous
hummingbirds in my neighbhorhood questioning whether anna's were a bit
tougher in holding territories and keeping the rufous out of my
neighborhood which has notoriously been occupied VERY heavily with rufous
h-birds this time of year. However, in my travels down several miles of
the Chehalis Western Trail south of Yelm Highway, historically a haven for
rufous, I have seen very few. If I were to give a rough estimate, I'd say
sightings have declined about 75%. Sightings are down in areas that have
anna's h-birds and those that do not. I know of a number of trees/display
areas where male rufous have perched for several years and not a single one
has held a hummingbird this year. In 7 years of walking this section of
the trail I cannot remember any year where numbers have been this sparse,
and my suspicions now loom larger than just interactions with anna's.

-Joe Dlugo

On Sun, Apr 15, 2012 at 8:01 PM, Thomas Derrer <tderrer at gmail.com> wrote:

> I live in the Skagit Valley between Mount Vernon and La Conner. For years
> I have been watching and feeding the hummingbirds. Usually they are
> abundant, this year literally none. Yes, a few passing by, but literally
> none that hang around. Also the only birds I see at home are Anna's, and
> while I have seen a few Rufous at work 8 miles north, there are very few of
> either.
> Has anyone else experience this?
> I miss my friends!
>
> Tom Derrer
>
>
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